Late at Night, Preparing to Slip Away and Escape

Huo Yuhao slipped into the underground passage, the Phantom Cloak clinging tightly to his body. The air inside was somewhat damp, while the luminescent moss on the walls gave off an eerie green glow.

"According to my earlier investigation, if I go straight for five hundred meters, I'll reach a fork."

He had gone less than a hundred meters when a sudden series of squeaks came from ahead.

Huo Yuhao immediately stopped, quietly activating his Spirit Eye Martial Soul.

A palm-sized black soul beast was crouched in the middle of the passage, its sharp claws scraping at something on the stone floor. Its tiny mung-bean-like eyes gleamed in the darkness.

[Thought Palace, initiate target analysis.]

[Detection result: Second-rank soul beast, Shadow Rat. Traits: Acute hearing, swift movement, capable of short-range teleportation. Threat level: Low.]

[Behavior analysis: Foraging. Its attention is focused on the ground. Recommendation: Avoid direct contact.]

Huo Yuhao let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, it was not some powerful soul beast.

But the problem was that the creature was blocking the middle of the path, and its hearing was exceptionally sharp. If he startled it, it would very likely bring even bigger trouble.

"I need to find a way to lure it away."

Huo Yuhao touched the soul tool components in his arms and suddenly had an idea. He took out a small piece of metal and hurled it hard at the wall on the right side of the passage.

"Clang!"

The crisp sound of impact echoed through the passage.

The Shadow Rat instantly pricked up its ears. With a whoosh, it vanished from the spot and darted toward the source of the sound.

"Done."

Taking the opportunity, Huo Yuhao quickly passed through and continued onward.

After walking for roughly ten minutes, he noticed strange runes beginning to appear on both walls of the passage. They emitted a faint blue glow and looked ancient and mysterious.

[Thought Palace, analyze rune structure.]

[Rune type: Components of an ancient concealment formation.]

[Estimated function: Conceals soul power fluctuations and prevents outside detection.]

[Additional effect: Possesses a certain degree of defensive capability and can withstand low-rank soul skill attacks.]

"No wonder this passage had existed for so long without being discovered." Huo Yuhao suddenly understood.

With the protection of these runes, even if the soul masters within the estate searched with spiritual power, they would have a hard time detecting anything unusual here.

As he continued forward, the passage began to slope upward. Huo Yuhao knew that meant he was nearing the exit.

Sure enough, a heavy stone door appeared ahead.

Complex patterns were carved into the stone door, and there was a circular indentation at its center. It looked as though a special key was required to open it.

"So this is the exit leading outside the estate?"

Huo Yuhao stepped closer to inspect it carefully and found that the area around the stone door was covered in intricate soul tool circuits. The circuits interconnected, forming a complex defensive system.

[Thought Palace, activate soul tool analysis mode.]

[Three layers of defensive mechanisms detected:]

[First layer: Identity verification. Requires a specific soul power imprint.]

[Second layer: Combination lock. Requires the correct soul power sequence.]

[Third layer: Trap mechanism. Incorrect operation will activate an attack formation.]

"Such complicated defenses. This exit must be important."

Recalling the soul tool knowledge he had learned in the underground laboratory, Huo Yuhao began carefully studying the structure of the circuits.

"The soul power conduction path goes like this... the energy convergence point is here... if I start from this node..."

He took out a thin metal wire from his arms and cautiously inserted it into a gap in one of the circuits.

"Bzzzt..."

A faint electric current sounded, and the runes on the stone door began to flicker.

"Halfway there."

Huo Yuhao continued working, using the metal wire to short several key circuit nodes.

"Click."

The first layer of the mechanism was cracked, and the red light on the stone door turned yellow.

Next was the combination lock. Huo Yuhao examined the circular indentation and found nine small holes inside. Soul power had to be fed into them in a particular order.

"Nine holes, countless combinations... How am I supposed to crack this?"

[Thought Palace, initiate logical deduction.]

[Analyzing the carved patterns on the stone door... A recurring pattern discovered...]

[Deduction result: The patterns indicate the input sequence. It should follow a spiral path from the outside inward.]

Following the deduction, Huo Yuhao fed soul power into the nine small holes one by one.

"Bzzz..."

The stone door trembled, and the yellow light turned green.

"There's one final layer."

Just then, the stone door suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Huo Yuhao's expression changed drastically. Something in the process of cracking the mechanism had triggered a chain reaction!

[Thought Palace, emergency analysis!]

[Warning: The mechanism system is connected to the manor's alarm network!]

[Hypothesis: Someone installed a monitoring program within this system!]

"Fuck! It's a trap!"

Noisy voices rang out in the distance. The manor guards had clearly been alerted.

"Someone has broken into the underground passage!"

"Quick, notify Madam!"

"Seal all exits!"

Cold sweat beaded on Huo Yuhao's forehead. He was trapped between a rock and a hard place. The stone door ahead had yet to fully open, while the way behind him had already been cut off.

[Thought Palace, replan escape route.]

[Backup passage detected: thirty meters from current location, leading to an abandoned well on the east side of the manor.]

[Advantage: More concealed; will not trigger the alarm system.]

[Disadvantage: Must backtrack for some distance.]

"Can't worry about that now!"

Huo Yuhao decisively abandoned this exit and turned to run back the way he had come.

As he passed the fork, he deliberately left several metal fragments on the ground and carved a few marks into the wall.

"Make them think I escaped in this direction."

Then, he swiftly slipped into the secret passage leading to the abandoned well.

This passage was even narrower, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. Huo Yuhao fumbled his way forward in the darkness, occasionally hearing the pursuers shouting behind him.

"Search! Search carefully!"

"That little bastard couldn't have gone far!"

"Split up! Don't overlook a single corner!"

Huo Yuhao sneered. Those idiots were being led in circles by his false clues.

After walking for another dozen minutes or so, a flight of stone steps leading upward appeared ahead. Huo Yuhao climbed the steps and pushed open a heavy stone slab.

Fresh night air rushed toward him.

He crawled out of the abandoned well and found himself on a barren mountain outside the manor. Looking back, White Tiger Duke's Manor was brightly lit, with countless figures moving through the courtyards.

"Go on, keep looking."

Huo Yuhao dusted himself off and replaced the stone slab. Then, he scattered some stone powder he had brought from the passage around the mouth of the well, disguising it as traces of natural weathering.

After finishing all this, he stood on the hillside and gazed one last time at that former "home."

Under the moonlight, the duke's manor remained majestic and magnificent, but to him, it was already a thing of the past.

"Mother, I'm leaving."

Huo Yuhao turned and vanished into the night, setting out toward the distant Sun Moon Empire.